VERY VERY: Séance

Back in the mid-1990s, Nick at Nite ran a programming block on the weekends called "Very Very Nick at Nite," which looked at four episodes with a similar theme. Now I will look at four sitcom episodes from across the decades that have a similar plot or theme. This week's topic is Very Very Séance!

This Week's Episodes

Cheers #191 "The Ghost and Mrs. LeBec" (First Aired: April 12, 1990)

When Carla starts dating someone for the first time since her husband's death, she sees her dead husband's face everywhere so she decides to bring a fortune teller to the bar to hold a séance. 

Cheers is an interesting show on this list. You didn't see a show like Cheers dabbling in a trope like seances very often. The show is usually "above" something goofy like that unless it has a particular purpose. I'm not 100% on board that they needed to do the séance scene to make this plot work. Although this is listed first (because I list shows alphabetically), it was the fourth show I watched and I realized séance scenes sort of play very similarly in these sitcoms, despite some of them being decades apart. It doesn't quite feel like it works on a show like Cheers.

Get Smart #64 "The Spirit is Willing" (First Aired: October 14, 1967)

Max is confused after he meets an informer who supposedly died months before so he holds a séance to try to get in touch with her.

I have always loved this episode of Get Smart. It's delightfully creepy and suspenseful and also a very well crafted episode. Guest star Ina Balin has a lot to do in this episode and she does a great job. The episode is full of twists and turns and I remember being surprised by some of them the first time I saw the episode. This episode is an example of Get Smart at its finest - a genuinely compelling plot that's still peppered with all the silliness Get Smart usually brings. Sometimes the scales are tipped a little too far on the silly side. Not here. This is among the best Get Smart episodes.

I Dream of Jeannie #25 "Bigger Than a Bread Box and Better Than a Genie" (First Aired: March 12, 1966)

When Roger makes friends with a fortune teller, Tony becomes suspicious and tries to prove that she is a fake.

The black and white season of I Dream of Jeannie is not as strong as the color seasons that follow. Unlike Bewitched, which seemed to benefit from the classy early black & white episodes, I Dream of Jeannie was meant to be a colorful and fantastical show. This episode is fine but I think would have been better a season or two later when Jeannie was fully embracing its campiness. Two interesting factoids - the guest star for Madame Zolta, Jorja Cutright, was married to Sidney Sheldon at the time and pilot Chuck Yeager, the first to break the sound barrier, makes an uncredited cameo appearance.

I Love Lucy #7 "The Séance" (First Aired: November 26, 1951)

Lucy and Ethel have gotten into numerology which seems to mess up Ricky's chance with a big producer until they learn that he is even more interested in the same things so they plan a séance with him.

This is a very early episode of I Love Lucy so there's the growing pains in place that happen throughout much of the first half of the first season, but this episode seems to have a better sense of the characters than some of the other early episodes. There are funny dynamics between the main characters and there's a strong guest appearance by Jay Novello, who plays weasel-type little men better than almost anyone. The part with Lucy and Ethel being the different spirits is a little too silly for my tastes but the episode still works overall.

Best Episode: Get Smart

This episode is really about much more than a séance, but as I mentioned above, it is one of my favorite episodes of Get Smart. One that really strikes the right balance between suspense and humor.

Best Fit for the Theme: I Love Lucy

Of the four episodes, I Love Lucy is the one that leans the most into numerology, horoscopes and all sorts of things that naturally lead to a séance scene.

Standout Performer: Don Adams, Get Smart

Runners-Up: Ina Balin (Get Smart), Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy)

Tomorrow: The Friday Five - Top 5 TV news stories of the week!

Next Thursday: Very Very Family Ancestry!